Now, in the eighth season since Towns played in his first college game, he will take the court for 16th-seeded Howard at 6:30 p.m. in UD Arena against Wagner in the First Four and, presumably, score his first point. Towns averages 14.2 points for the Bison.
Much of Towns’ career has not been on his own terms. That’s why his journey to Tuesday night proves perseverance requires patience.
Towns played two seasons at Harvard and was the Ivy League player of the year as a sophomore. Then he took two medical redshirt seasons before transferring home to Columbus to play for Ohio State. He played in 25 games and averaged only 3.8 points. Then he endured another medical redshirt season followed by simply taking last season off.
But Towns came back for his final year of eligibility, and he wants to pursue a professional career.
“Having overcome some of the particular obstacles that I have and being here on this stage with this amazing group, you’ve asked me if I could put it into words, the answer is probably no,” Towns said. “It’s remarkable, and it feels amazing.”
Towns was a four-start recruit out of Columbus Northland but chose an unexpected path and went to Harvard and earned his degree. To play in Ohio at the end of his eight-year odyssey, is a perfect climax.
“I don’t think you could have written this any better,” Towns said.
The long narrative of Towns’ career means he is 26. His teammates aren’t shy about reminding him of it and like to give him the you’re-an-old-man treatment.
“We gig on him a lot for being older,” said junior Bryce Harris. “Sometimes we’ll be on the court and he’ll do something that’s a highlight play – we scream, ‘Yeah, Unc, yeah, Unc.’”
And then Harris will seek advice from Towns.
“I’ll be asking him questions and sometimes he knows I’m picking his brain, sometimes he doesn’t,” Harris said. “He’s priceless to our program. The type of impact he’s had in this short amount of time, honestly, it’s been a pleasure playing with him.”
Third-year coach Kenneth Blakeney, who played at Duke, wanted Towns in his program whether he was going to be healthy enough to play or not.
“We do so much work in the social justice space that his profile, his resumé, what he’s done in his life, has really fit who we are as a basketball program,” Blakeney said.
To get to Dayton, the Bison had to overcome difficult stretches in their season. They finished third in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference at 9-5 and carried a 15-16 overall record into the conference tournament. Then they got hot at the right time with three straight wins to win a second straight conference tournament and earn a second straight NCAA bid.
“We faced a ton of adversity this season through injury, through a lot of guys going through really, really tough individual things,” Towns said. “You go in with certain expectations, and this year was really rocky for us in a lot of ways. So to come together at the end of the year it’s a testament to the leadership of the coaching staff and to the incredible guys who were never willing to give up.”
And now Towns, who never gave up on playing his four years, will finish his college career in the NCAA Tournament on his own terms.
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